The present invention relates to improvements in plural cartridge holders and is particularly directed to a protective holder for a pistol loader containing a plurality of cartridges ready for simultaneously loading all of the cartridges into the cylinder of a revolver.
It has previously been common for spare cartridges for a revolver to be carried individually in separate loops attached to the belt on which a pistol holster is carried. Individual cartridges must be removed from such loops and loaded into the cylinder of a revolver one at a time. Devices have recently become available which permit a plurality of cartridges to be simultaneously loaded into the cylinder of a revolver, greatly reducing the time required to reload. One such revolver speed loader is disclosed in Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,868.
In order to gain the benefits of such speed loaders, the speed loaders must be carried loaded with cartridges ready for immediate placement into the revolver. Such a speed loader, however, is significantly different in shape from a single cartridge and therefore cannot be carried in the loops of conventional holster belts. Previous to the present invention a speed holder has had to be carried in one's pocket or in, for example, a special leather case attached to a holster belt. Having to carry the speed loader in such a case reduces to some extent the speed loader's advantage of speed, since it takes a certain amount of time to open the case and thereafter remove the speed loader from the case. Such a special leather case is also somewhat costly and adds undesirable bulk to a holster belt.
While a speed loader provides some amount of protection for the cartridges held within it, the speed loader does not cover the entire length of each cartridge, and may even cover protectively less of the cartridge than the loops formerly used to carry individual cartridges on a holster belt. Cartridges in such a speed loader carried loosely in one's pocket may, then, be subjected to undesirable contact with other items, causing a risk of damage from which it is preferable to protect the cartridges.
What is desired, then, is an inexpensive holder for protectively holding a speed loader on a holster belt, with or without any cartridges contained therein, in such a manner as to prevent dislodgment of cartridges from the speed loader and to prevent damage to the cartridges. Such a holder should securely hold the speed loader and the cartridges contained in it, yet provide convenient removability and quick availability of the speed loader to reload a pistol when necessary.